The American Wife by Taya Kyle (TLC Book Tours review)

The American Wife
Author:  Taya Kyle
Published:  May 2015
Publisher:  William Morrow
Pages:  304
Genre:  memoir
Source:  a complimentary copy was provided by the publisher and TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

The widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle shares her private story: an unforgettable testament to the power of love and faith in the face of war and unimaginable loss--and a moving tribute to a man whose true heroism ran even deeper than the legend.

In early 2013, Taya Kyle and her husband Chris were the happiest they ever had been. Their decade-long marriage had survived years of war that took Chris, a U.S. Navy SEAL, away from Taya and their two children for agonizingly long stretches while he put his life on the line in nearly every major battle of the Iraq War. After struggling to readjust to life out of the military, Chris had found new purpose in redirecting his lifelong dedication to service to supporting veterans and their families. Their love had deepened, and, most special of all, their family was whole, finally.

Then, the unthinkable. On February 2, 2013, Chris was killed while attempting to help a troubled vet. The life they fought so hard to build together was shattered. In an instant, Taya became a single parent of two. A widow. A young woman facing the rest of her life without the man she loved.

Chris and Taya’s remarkable story has captivated millions through Clint Eastwood’s blockbuster, Academy Award-nominated film American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper as Chris and Sienna Miller as Taya, and because of Chris’s bestselling memoir, in which Taya contributed passages that formed the book’s emotional core. Now, with trusted collaborator Jim DeFelice, Taya writes in never-before-told detail about the hours, days, and months after his shocking death when grief threatened to overwhelm her. Then there were wearying battles to protect her husband’s legacy and reputation.

And yet throughout, friendship, family, and a deepening faith were lifelines that sustained her and the kids when the sorrow became too much. Two years after her husband’s death, Taya has found renewed meaning and connection to Chris by advancing their shared mission of “serving those who serve others,” particularly military and first-responder families. She and the children now are embracing a new future, one that honors the past but also looks forward with hope, gratitude, and joy.

American Wife is one of the most remarkable memoirs of the year -- a universal chronicle of love and heartbreak, service and sacrifice, faith and purpose that will inspire every reader.

Purchase Links

Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

First there was the bestseller American Sniper written by Chris Kyle.  Chris Kyle served as a sniper in the U.S Navy Seals.  He earned a reputation for being cool under fire and for his incredible marksmanship.  Tragically, Chris was killed by a fellow returned vet at a gun range.  His legacy lives on with his wife and two children.  The American Wife is Chris' wife Taya's story.

The American Wife, written with the assistance of Jim DeFelice, chronicles Taya's and Chris' life together as a married couple madly in love.  Taya shares the days of their courtship, marriage and parenthood.  The struggles of being the one left at home while her spouse served overseas are real and relatable.  Through two pregnancies for which Chris miraculously was home to support her through childbirth, Taya writes of months being home alone.  Pregnancy, raising children alone for months at a time, all unfathomable to me but Taya, like so many other military wives, did it.  

Chris rarely spoke about his missions to Taya while he was serving in the Seals.  The horrors he faced, the lives he defended, the people he saved were things he kept to himself while he was gone.  It wasn't until he left the Navy Seals that Taya learned what it was really like out there.  Of course he wasn't alone as a returned "soldier of war" and this is where Chris found a new purpose at home, serving other returned vets.  Sadly, one day one of those vets would be so scarred, not only from war, that he took Chris' life at a gun range.

Left alone, a widow and mother of two, Taya struggled to live on.  The love of her life had ironically lost his life at home while trying to help another vet.  Taya shares her sorrows, her grief, and the road to learning to live her new life without Chris.  The pain is palpable, and the reader feels it keenly as we share her experiences.  Her struggle back to living and finding a new purpose is encouraging and courageous and certainly an example of strength and perseverance.  

Taya's story is one of love and faith and endurance.   She is a modern day example of strength under adversity. American Wife is an encouraging read for women everywhere.

About the author:

Taya Kyle founded the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation in honor of her late husband Chris Kyle, legendary U.S. Navy SEAL and author of the bestsellers American Sniper and American Gun. The foundation is devoted to strengthening the marriages of veterans and first responders. An active public speaker, Taya Kyle makes frequent appearances at fund-raisers and other events, inspiring others to find strength and persevere through struggles. She and her two children live in Texas.

London's West End: Vibrant or Violent (A Guest Post by M.G. Scarsbrook, author of the mystery Dream of the Dead)

It's no secret I love a good mystery. I enjoy a good plot with twists and turns and suspense that keep me guessing until the end.  Some of my favourite mystery authors are British (Agatha Christie, B.C. Beaton, Reginald Hill to name a few).  I'm excited to share today a guest post from a new to me British author M.G. Scarsbrook.  Scarsbrook has a new mystery, Dream of the Dead, the debut in a new detective series West End Murders just released and I invited him to write a guest post about the setting he chose for this novel.  I am rather enamoured with London myself (though in day dream format for now) so I found this quite interesting and hope you will too.  

Be sure to check out the links at the end of the post where you can purchase this exciting book!

London’s West End:  Vibrant OR VIOLENT?

By M. G. Scarsbrook

My debut mystery novel Dream of the Dead is the start of a new detective series based in the West End, London’s world-famous entertainment district. Like the Oxford colleges of Colin Dexter, or the racecourses of Dick Francis, the charming theatres of the West End might initially seem an unusual environment for a crime novel. It’s certainly an exuberant, expensive, exhilarating area. But is it dangerous? After all, anyone who knows London tends to think of the West End as a pleasure ground for the masses. The colossal shops of Oxford Street and Regent Street. The glitzy restaurants of Soho and Covent Garden. The tourist magnet of Leicester Square. And, of course, the gorgeous theatres of St Martin’s Lane and Shaftesbury Avenue. Hardly a place teeming with criminals.

Or so it would seem...

Yet take a guess at which area of London also has the highest crime rate? Guess which part of the capital you are most likely to become a victim of violence?

That’s right. The West End. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING...

Many famous places typically thought of as being in ‘London’, from touristy sights like Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, or 10 Downing street, to prestigious universities, billion-pound corporate headquarters, and five star hotels, are actually located in the borough of Westminster. This borough also contains the priciest office space in the world to rent (£100 per square foot). And a Grade 1 listed home recently went on sale here for £250 million. By any standards, Westminster is a desirable, world-class location.

It’s also a bit dodgy. According to an official report, it also has more violent crime than England’s second largest city of Birmingham.

Wait a minute. Are you sure?

Yes, it's true. The UK Peace Index, a report from the Institute for Economics and Peace, puts Westminster 12^th in the UK for most violent places to live (Birmingham is 19^th on the list). Crime figures from the Metropolitan Police also show that 8,288 violent acts against the person occurred in 2012, including more than 2,000 robberies. For 2013, on a monthly basis, Westminster has by far the highest crime levels in London, with a crime rate of 20.46, more than double the second most crime-ridden borough (Islington at 9.97), and far more than notorious areas like Tower Hamlets, Newham, and Lewisham. Furthermore, within Westminster itself, the most dangerous ward is the West End – and by a vast margin. Its monthly crime rate of 127.28 puts the West End almost ten times higher than many other places, such as Knightsbridge at 14.13, or Abbey Road at just 4.62. The West End, almost by itself, is largely responsible for the inflated levels of crime in Westminster. 

REALISTICALLY SPEAKING…

Now hold on. Before you think twice about those theatre tickets you’ve just booked, we do need to put this in context. Although street gangs are sometimes known to commute to the West End to deal drugs, rob, and mug people, most of the offences there derive from another source.

Drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.

The West End has a massive concentration of bars and nightclubs, and most of the offences committed in the area relate to the alcohol-fuelled, midnight antics of drunkards, such as anti-social behaviour and violence against the person. We also need to remember that this is a busy area, too, with a high footfall. Extremely high. London is the most visited city in the world, and many people are attracted to the West End during their trip to the capital. More than 200 million people visit the area every year. No other borough can boast such popularity. Also, despite the high levels of violence, Westminster saw only one murder in 2012 – that’s right, just one – and homicide rates have fallen dramatically and consistently across the whole city every year since 2003.

So, while the West End isn’t exactly a den of thieves and cut-throats, there is certainly a trace of blood amongst all the glitter, too. Indeed, since its inception, the West End has always been a ‘colourful’ part of London.

A FASHIONABLE SPOT

During the 1600s, the streets and squares of the West End were built to hold the palaces of aristocracy and gentry. Opulent theatres, exotic shops, and refined gambling houses all sprung up to service the bored ladies and gentlemen. Eventually, as playwrights, prostitutes, and swindlers also plied their business in the area, the reputation of the West End declined, and aristocrats scurried away to calmer and more prestigious parts of the city. Nevertheless, their venues of entertainment remained, and the district soon embraced even bawdier forms of amusement, too, which held greater mass appeal. More theatres, more taverns, more brothels, and more coffee-houses arrived. An entire district, devoted to pleasure in all its myriad forms, was now open to all.

The West End was born.

Indeed, the streets soon became jubilant to the point of lawlessness, increasingly known as much for the spectacle of their playhouses, as for their duels (Sheridan fought one on Henrietta Street), and their bare-knuckle boxing matches (the oldest pub in the area, The Lamb and Flag on Rose Street, was originally called the ‘Bucket of Blood’). At the top of St Martin’s Lane, the Seven Dials district also became a notorious slum, even providing the inspiration for Hogarth’s famous painting ‘Gin Lane’.

Given this wild history, perhaps it’s no surprise the West End attracted the stern attention of the authorities. 

THE POLICEMAN COMETH

In 1749 the West End produced England’s first professional police force. Operating out of the magistrates court on Bow Street, just a short walk from Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House, the ‘Bow Street Runners’ were the first organisation of men formally employed by the central government to fight crime. Henry Fielding, author of Tom Jones, is credited with creating the revolutionary organisation, although it was under his brother John Fielding that it grew into an effective force to patrol the whole capital. The ‘Bow Street Runners’ are widely considered to be the forerunners of the modern police force in Britain. Indeed, the copper buttons on their uniforms gave rise to the colloquialism of ‘coppers’, a nickname still used for the police today! 

While the manic excitement of the West End has always needed the law to prevent it tearing a hole through civilised London, perhaps the biggest challenge for the area came in more recent times. In 1974 the market in Covent Garden, arguably the heart of the West End, was closed due to congestion and moved to Nine Elms. The old and vacant buildings left in its stead were gradually redeveloped into shops and entertainment venues. But without the same levels of people passing through the area, the following decade lurched into a post-market wasteland. The tube station was even shut on Sundays because no one wanted to go there. Likewise, Leicester Square spent most of the 1980s mired in the squalor of tramps, hustlers, and drug dealers. Thankfully, not much of this slump is visible anymore, yet only in the last two decades has the area really cleaned itself up…

DARKNESS BEHIND THE LIGHTS

Nowadays the resurgence of the West End is staggering. The tube station in Covent Garden is only likely to be shut due to overcrowding. Gangs of crushing tourists are far more prevalent than thugs leering in the shadows. A brief stroll through the area reveals brightly lit signs, family-friendly squares, a plethora of shows, chain shops, designer boutiques, and trendy restaurants set within characterful lanes and cobbled alleys. Once again the West End is the centre of commerce, creativity, and adventure in London – the most lively area of the city, and perhaps the entire country. But a darker, lawless past and present is never too far beneath the surface shine, either. Such dynamic tension drives the action behind any narrative. Despite first appearances, then, the West End provides the natural environment for any fictional tale, and is the perfect setting for a crime story, especially a detective novel like Dream of the Dead.

Where to Buy The Book:

Amazon US:  http://www.amazon.com/Dream-Dead-West-End-Murders-ebook/dp/B00GZRMO42/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1386009795&

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dream-Dead-West-End-Murders-ebook/dp/B00GZRMO42/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1386009795&

About The Author:

M. G. Scarsbrook is the author of three novels and the editor of four literary collections. Since 2011 his books have sold more than 20,000 copies worldwide and been translated into five languages. English editions of his work are sold in paperback, eBook, and audiobook formats at all major online bookstores. A member of the prestigious Crime Writers' Association and the Society of Authors, he lives in the UK and is working on the next book in the West End Murders series. To learn more, please visit his website: www.mgscarsbrook.com

Dead White and Blue - new Carolyn Hart novel coming May 2013

The following is an excerpt from the Carolyn Hart newsletter I received today.  I am so excited for a new Death on Demand mystery!!!  Three new titles will be released this year and six early books will once again be in print.

New: DEAD WHITE AND BLUE
the 23rd Death on Demand title, May 2013

Annie Darling looks forward being in Max's arms at a July 4th dance, but her pleasure in the evening is marred by obviously strained relations among some of the revelers. A hot young second wife taunts both her husband and the woman he dumped, dances with a middleaged man who looks terrified, toys with the affections of another woman's husband, talks to someone in a dark shadow as the fireworks begins. She is last seen walking into the pines.

Within a few days, a stepdaughter asks Max to help find her. Annie, too, begins to look and soon it is apparent that she hasn't been seen since the night of the dance. Did she sail away on a millionaire's yacht? Or did she never leave the island?

Annie and Max follow clues, unravel the odd incidents that plagued the country club the night of the dance, and finally believe they know who committed murder, but this killer may be too clever to catch.
 

Other New Releases

February 2013: Once again in print: THE DEVEREAUX LEGACY, romantic suspense,
March 2013:  A SETTLING OF ACCOUNTS, suspense thriller
June 2013: ESCAPE FROM PARIS, WWII novel
July 2013: NO EASY ANSWERS, suspense
August 2013: BRAVE HEARTS, WWII novel
September 2013: DANGER; HIGH EXPLOSIVES!, suspense
October 2013: GHOST GONE WILD, the 4th Bailey Ruth Ghost title
December 2013: CRY IN THE NIGHT, the first print edition of a never-before-published thriller. December

The thrillers and suspense novels are harder-edged and faster-paced and I think will introduce you to a Carolyn Hart you've never known.

There's more information about these and other books on my website:www.CarolynHart.com

All Carolyn Hart books are available from your favorite bookseller

Amazon.com | Books-a-Million | B&N  | IndieBound

Coming This Fall....

Love Anthony

Author:  Lisa Genova

Publisher:  Simon and Schuster

Published:  September 2012

Pages: 320

Edition:  Hardcover

ISBN: 9781439164686

I’m always hearing about how my brain doesn’t work right. . . . But it doesn’t feel broken to me. 

Olivia Donatelli’s dream of a “normal” life shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. Understanding the world from his perspective felt bewildering, nearly impossible. He didn’t speak. He hated to be touched. He almost never made eye contact. And just as Olivia was starting to realize that happiness and autism could coexist, Anthony died. 

Now she’s alone in a cottage on Nantucket, separated from her husband, desperate to understand the meaning of her son’s short life, when a chance encounter with another woman facing her own loss brings Anthony alive again for Olivia in a most unexpected way. 

Beth Ellis’s entire life changed with a simple note: “I’m sleeping with Jimmy.” Fourteen years of marriage. Three beautiful daughters. Yet even before her husband’s affair, she had never felt so alone. Heartbroken, she finds the pieces of the vivacious, creative person she used to be packed away in a box in her attic. For the first time in years, she uncaps her pen, takes a deep breath, and begins to write. The young but exuberant voice that emerges onto the page is a balm to the turmoil within her, a new beginning, and an astonishing bridge back to herself. 

In a piercing story about motherhood, autism, and love, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Genova offers us two unforgettable women on the verge of change and the irrepressible young boy whose unique wisdom helps them both find the courage to move on.

***

I am so excited to read Love Anthony by Lisa Genova!!!  I loved Still Alice and have Left Neglected waiting for me in a box (I just moved).  So many good books releasing this fall, perhaps this will be one of the those you top list for reading!

New Release: I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Released today, February 14, 2012, and available in bookstores near you, is Sophie Kinsella's new stand-alone novel, I've Got Your Number.  See the trailer below:

John Grisham's New Novel: Calico Joe due out in April

New Releases!!

The long awaited Inheritance by Christopher Paolini was released today!!  

11/22/63, is the much anticipated latest novel by Stephen King.  It was released today!!  I can't wait to read this one!!  Read more about this new novel here.

To see Harper Collins new releases visit Harper Collins Canada on Facebook.

11-22-63 Countdown is On!

Count down is on for the new release of Stephen King's novel 11-22-63!  It will be available in stores November 8/11!!

Dead by Midnight new book by Carolyn Hart

Carolyn Hart is one of my absolute favourite authors.  She has written several "cozy mysteries" including the Annie and Max Darling series, Death on Demand, of which she has a new one.  The latest in this cozy series is Dead By Midnight as announced by Harper Collins Publishing.  I just received the press release and am excited to share the good news!!

Here's a tease by way of a synopsis to get you going:

Solving puzzles comes naturally to Annie Darling, cheerful owner of the Death on Demand mystery bookstore on the lovely sea island of Broward's Rock. Annie is aided and abetted by her admiring husband, Max, who runs an unusual business that offers help to people in trouble.

A recent death appears to be suicide, but Annie suspects murder. To solve the case, she unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst.

Annie believes she has set the perfect trap for a merciless killer until her cell phone rings and Death whispers in her ear.



This is a must acquire for me!!

Dead by Midnight

A Death on Demand Mystery
By Carolyn Hart
On Sale: 3/29/2011

Formats: Hardcover, E-Book, Large Print
Pre-order with Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders.  Coming soon to a store near you.